Crisis at Cornell. Husband on trial for missing wife's murder. Plus, "The Widower" documentary.

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

What was he charged with this time?

Laura Jarrett (0:02)

You're listening to the Dateline story meeting.

SPEAKER_3 (0:05)

Murder, still top count.

Laura Jarrett (0:07)

The team is catching up on breaking crime news.

Dan Slepian (0:10)

He said the whole case was based on speculation.

SPEAKER_5 (0:12)

The story changes after his confession gets tossed out.

SPEAKER_3 (0:15)

He's got multiple women in his life.

Laura Jarrett (0:19)

Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm NBC News senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett, in for Andrea Canning. It's October 8th and here's what's on our docket.

In Northern Virginia, a man is on trial for the murder of his wife, a beloved nurse, even though her body has never been found.

Marianne O'Donnell (0:38)

They start finding video of Naresh traveling around town and throwing out dark plastic bags.

Laura Jarrett (0:46)

Emotions run high at the sentencing of former American Idol contestant and now convicted murderer, Caleb Flynn.

Caleb Flynn (0:54)

I stand here before God, who is my ultimate judge.

I am not a wife. When I say I did not, I'm a white.

Laura Jarrett (1:06)

Plus, the cat and mouse game between a Dateline producer and a man accused of murdering his sixth wife is at the center of The Widower, Till Death Do Us Part, Netflix's latest true crime documentary. That producer, Dan Slepien, will be here to tell us all about it.

Dan Slepian (1:24)

You know, this is a guy who has a certain kind of charisma and charm that hides a real menacing nature.

Laura Jarrett (1:34)

But before that, we're heading to upstate New York, where disturbing revelations about an alleged sexual assault two years ago have thrown an Ivy League campus into crisis. A warning to listeners, this segment contains discussion of sexual violence. Please take care while listening.

Last month, the idyllic campus of Cornell University with its rolling hills and stone buildings was thrust into the national spotlight by news of a civil lawsuit filed by a former student.

Maggie Vespa (2:07)

Jane Doe filed a lawsuit accusing members of the Chi Phi fraternity of drugging and sexually assaulting her.

Laura Jarrett (2:14)

The lawsuit spans 100 pages, and in it, this former student, she's going by Jane Doe to protect her identity, lays out in vivid detail what she says seven students did to her at a frat house in October 2024

She accuses the university of failing to properly investigate. Over the past few days, as more details emerged about this incident and its aftermath, protests have swelled as current students speak out on campus.

SPEAKER_9 (2:42)

What do we want?

Maggie Vespa (2:45)

What do we want?

Laura Jarrett (2:47)

Here to bring us the latest is NBC News correspondent Maggie Vespa, who's been reporting on the ground in Ithaca, New York since the very beginning. Maggie, thank you so much for being here.

Maggie Vespa (2:58)

Of course. Thank you guys for having me.

Laura Jarrett (3:00)

Just describe the scene because it feels like it has gotten increasingly tense.

Maggie Vespa (3:06)

It's been incredibly tense.

We had a march on Monday, I would say close to 2,000 people, easily 1,000 people. Students had like an organized list of demands. They want all of the seven accused fraternity members either expelled or if they've already graduated, which some have, they want their degrees revoked by Cornell. Some are asking for administrators to resign.

SPEAKER_10 (3:30)

I mean, this isn't the first time they've disappointed us. And if we can't trust them to support and protect us now, why would we trust them to protect us in the future?

Maggie Vespa (3:38)

We now have, for the first time, faculty speaking out, introducing a resolution of no confidence in administrators here. They're not specifically calling on anyone to step down. In fact, the sponsor, Professor Ortiz, told us we specifically didn't name anyone on purpose, but we don't believe that the school is capable of protecting students here. And we've heard from too many students with too many experiences similar to Jane Doe.

They feel like the lawsuit's like the tip of the iceberg.

Laura Jarrett (4:05)

I want to go back in time and lay out some of the basics of what we do know, because a lot has come out in just the past couple of weeks.

Jane Doe's civil lawsuit lays out her version of events. What exactly does she say happened that night?

Maggie Vespa (4:20)

Yeah, so it was October 2024 She was a member of a sorority, and she and her sorority sisters basically went out drinking. Then as her suit puts it, she stumbled alone to the Chi-5 frat house to see a friend, who it seems like pretty quickly suggests, per the suit, that they have a threesome with another guy.